Do you like to do work yourself or do you like to get work done through others? The answer, in my opinion, is the fundamental line determining who does and doesn’t have management potential. Unfortunately, that’s not how most organizations think. In most companies, if someone is good at a function, all the organization’s energies […]
Question for you: Do you like to work, or do you want to get work done through others? Knowing what needs to be done, and DOING the work might be where you thrive. And as long as your supervisor recognizes that this is your strength, you’re golden. But what if your supervisor doesn’t realize that […]
Every entrepreneur knows starting a business is not for the weak. Nearly half don’t make it to five years, and even fewer make it to the ten-year mark. And every successful business can look back on their history and recall moments where they could have quickly put the nail in the coffin too. Just look at […]
It’s human nature for many of us to want to please those around us, particularly at work. To say yes to doing more, to consistently meet our goals, and to always exceed the expectations of those around and above us. But true leadership isn’t about people-pleasing. It’s about gathering the right people on your team whom you […]
We all live with tension, but not all tension is bad. The trick is developing the ability to tell the difference between good tension and bad tension. To do that, you’ll have to learn which situations represent a healthy tension that can make your organization stronger versus those where unhealthy tension can create damage. Getting […]
My favorite metaphor for leadership is that of an orchestra conductor. Quite often, the conductor is someone who used to play a particular instrument in the orchestra, but now his or her job is to get the most beautiful sound out of the entire group. They do this by understanding the function of each section […]
Are you leading a new start-up? Were you just finding your footing as soon as COVID-19 hit? Do you find yourself struggling to balance the books as the pandemic carries on? If the answers to any of those questions were yes, then first, I would just like to say welcome to entrepreneurship. If you had […]
A lot of people write books to burnish—or build—reputations, often with one eye on post-C-suite careers, whether as consultants, motivational speakers, authors, or all of these. While I may now be one of those ‘published authors,’ I can’t say I was entirely open to the idea at first. It may sound a bit counterintuitive but […]
If you’re starting (or restarting) a company or team, I can’t overstate the value of those first twenty to twenty-five hires that will make up the future of your organization and define its success. You can’t even get to the goal of leading and growing a company without a core group of people who are […]
I did my first start-up, Waveset Technologies, in 2000—the heady days just before the dot-com bubble burst. Back then, the Herman Miller Aeron chair was the hot item in offices. It cost well upward of $1,000, and every Silicon Valley start-up decided it had to have one—for every employee. But the Aeron was not for […]
This assessment aims to differentiate between flashy “pseudo-cultures” that attract talent and investors from the real cultures that actually put people first and develop meaningful products.
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